SLIFF 2009 Review: 24 CITY

Fact and fiction collide in 24 CITY, an unusual take on the documentary format from China. The state-owned aviation engine plant known as “Factory 420″ was built in 1958 in the southwest city of Chengdu and is shutting down to make way for a complex of luxury apartments called “24 City.” In the movie 24 CITY director Jia Zhangke combines shots of the factory and the surrounding city with talking-head monologues and interviews with workers who are losing their jobs. At first the film seems like a conventional documentary making a statement about the human cost of progress. The workers…

Boiled & Sin City 2

Is SIN CITY 2 moving along? Slowly. Mania.com spoke with producer Stephen L'Heureux and got some information about a couple of comic films he's got coming up. Two of them are from Frank Miller. One of the was of course SIN CITY 2, which seems like a tornado of rumors in development hell. However, L'Heureux says that CITY 2 will go into production during the second half of 2010. The sequel will be getting a... Read More...

Zemeckis & Disney have found writer to adapt AIRMAN

Here’s a great looking character from the author of Artemis Fowl that the mo-cap trailblazer himself will be bringing to life with… you guessed it, motion-capture! Disney and Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers’ have enlisted writer Ann Peacock to adapt Eoin Colfer’s novel for their high-budget fantasy adventure Airman. Gil Kenan(Monster House/City Of Ember) will helm the $150 million motion-capture [...]

City of Ember Director to Adapt Airman with Producer Robert Zemeckis

ImageMovers, the Robert Zemeckis motion-capture animation studio behind Beowulf and A Christmas Carol, has a new project. Ann Peacock, who wrote the adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is penning an adaptation of the Eoin Colfer novel Airman, which sounds a bit like a combination of The Rocketeer and the mid-period movies by Miyazaki. Could this be the mo-cap project to convince non-believers like myself? Variety reports that Gil Kenan, who last helmed City of Ember, is directing. I loved the production design and some of the world-building in City of Ember, but thought it was full of contrivances and uninteresting characters. So that could be a problem. The trade reports that the story is about Connor, "a boy who lives on an island off the coast of Ireland, where his father is the king's bodyguard. When the king is murdered, Conor is blamed for the crime and thrown ...

Clive Owen Says Sin City 2 Will Happen Next Year

We've been hearing about the "Sin City" sequel ever since the first film hit theaters back in 2005. Now, during the Toronto Film Festival, MTV had the chance to sit down with Clive Owen to find out whether "Sin City 2" will ever go into production.

Sex and the City Snags a New Beau

Sex and the City may have ended its cable run in 2004, but that didn't stop the 2008 film version from arriving at theaters, and it's certainly not slowing down the sequel Sex and the City 2 that's currently shooting in New York City. Starring the usual list of suspects, Sex and the City 2 is now adding Max Ryan to the cast as a European architect who meets the self-proclaimed "try-sexual" Samantha (Kim Cattrall). The role marks a change of pace for Ryan, a British actor best known for action-oriented movies like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Kiss of the Dragon, and Death Race. Sex and the City, meanwhile, is better known for its sex-based romantic comedy and predominantly female audience. And if the Sex and the City sequel is anything like the first film, it will boast a few false endings, terrible potty humor, and insulting two-dimensional portrayals of women. And to make matters worse, it will likely do great at the box office, since the original movie raked in well over $400 million worldwide.   Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Will Smith Reteaming with Francis Lawrence for City That Sailed

Will Smith and Francis Lawrence must have clicked on the set of I Am Legend, as the two are getting back together -- but this time with 20th Century Fox -- for City That Sailed.

Will Smith for City That Sailed
Lawrence is onboard to develop and direct City That Sailed, while Will Smith's capacity is limited to producer at the moment. The film is, however, being developed as a potential starring vehicle for him.

Rewritten by scribes Brian Koppelman and David Levien off a script by Andrew Niccol, City That Sailed centers on a father and daughter living on opposite sides of the ocean whose love is so strong that it causes Manhattan to split off and float across the Atlantic.

"City of Ember" - New clip!

Get ready for "The City of Ember" with a new clip from the Gil Kenan directed film!

City of Ember. The Review - A dreary and drab fantasy family film

City of Ember
            by Eric Sloss, Writer

 

 

City of Ember is a dreary and drab fantasy family film.  There are no flights of fancy to thrill the kids.  There is no interesting story to hold the attention of adults.  The set looks like something from Oliver Twist.  I half expected Oliver and the Artful Dodger to scamper down the road in a scene.  The whole production is depressing and hard to look at.  It is a shame because there are plenty of talented actors on hand.

 

The movie starts with a group of people discussing the fate of an underground city.  They put secret plans into a briefcase that will open only after 200 years.  The first big question is why was this underground city built in the first place?  Was there a nuclear war?  An ice age?  No answers will be coming.  The briefcase is supposed to be handed down from mayor to mayor to insure the safety of the city.  Somehow the briefcase gets misplaced after the death of one of the mayors.

 

It is now 200 years since the builders put the plans in the briefcase.  The generator that provides power to the city is failing on a consistent basis.  Permanent darkness is a fear that permeates throughout the general population.  Two youths are growing increasingly concerned about the situation.  Doon (Harry Treadaway) wants desperately to work on the generator and save the city.  Lina (Saoirse Ronan) is caring for her sick grandmother and her young sister.  She is ready for her next step into adulthood.

 

In the underground city of Ember, they have an Assignment Day.  This is where the young people get to find out their chosen vocation.  Each person picks a piece of paper out of the hat of the mayor.  Bill Murray plays the portly Mayor Cole in the film.  Murray must be sporting a fat suit or he has hit the buffet table a bit too much.  There is no real joy in

Review: China Miéville crosses over to a parallel world in The City and the City

When the Firesign Theatre asked, "How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?" they probably weren't expecting an answer. But New Weird luminary China Miéville provides one in his unorthodox fantasy novel, The City and the City.

This tale of two cities isn't about great world capitols hundreds of miles apart. True, Miéville's fictional Eastern European cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma, are in separate countries; but they're twin cities. Yet they're not next-door neighbors, a la Minneapolis/St. Paul. The city-states of mittel-European Beszel and mideastern-inflected Ul Qoma occupy the same patch of land.